The British Cabinet Crisis.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 6083, 2 October 1903, Page 3

The British Cabinet Crisis.

United Press Association—- By Rlectrio Telegraph—Copyright

London, Oct. 1

Lord George Hamilton, in a letter to the Conservative Association at Ealing, enclosed, by permission, his letter to Mr Balfour, wherein he resigned his portfolio. He adds that the letter was written on the afternoon of September 15 in ignorance of Mr Chamberlain's resignation, and of the elimination of all relating to preference from the Government's programnre. The first intimation he received of the great change reached him through a morning newspaper on September 18. His letter of resignation declared that after the discus* sions in the Cabinet and knowledge of the fiscal proposals Mr Balfour proposed to advocate, k he was compelled to resign. Mr Chamberlain, in a preface to a series of articles by Mr Vice, the secretary of the Imperial Tariff Committee, elaborates the chief points of his Birmingham speech, including a tax on breadstuffs.

Lord George Hamilton's letter has caused an unpleasant sensation in political circles. The Liberal newspapers infer that Mr Balfouc was in secret collusion with one colleague and the others were misled. The " Morning Post" expresses a hope that Mr Balfour, in his Sheffield speech, will vouchsafe a fuller knowledge of the subject. There is a growing impression that Lord Milner will decline to join the Cabinet. Twenty thousand persons applied for the five thousand seats in the Olympia Hall, Newcastle, to hear Mr Chamberlain's coin, ing speech.